The Legend of Zelda: The Dark Empire
by SourGummyWorms
Summary: Dark Elves have taken over Hyrule. Can Link save Hyrule from destruction and find his long lost childhood friend with the aide of the rebellion? Or will Hyrule be doomed for forever? i suck at summaries r
1. Prologue: The Beginning

Disclamir: I don't own Zelda! By the way this is my first fan fic...i hope you enjoy...i accept all reviews...flamers and all!

Chapter One

The Beginning

In the small country of Hyrule it was a very sunny and peaceful afternoon, there wasn't a cloud in sight and the townsfolk were out enjoying the beautiful day. The King and the young Princess Zelda were spending their peaceful afternoon out in their garden enjoying the view, the Zora's were in their domain having diving competitions in Lake Hylia, the Gorons were sumo-wrestling in Goron City that was perched atop Death Mountain, the Gerudo women played archery in the dessert, and the townsfolk in Castle Town were enjoying themselves outside to entertain themselves the women gossiped and the men bartered.

Meanwhile in the Kokiri Forest two very small children were playing in the small crystal blue river that ran throgh the middle of the town. These two children did not have fairys since they weren't actually from the forest like the other Kokiri who were made from the Great Deku Tree that watched over the small village. It was odd living in a village of children...most of them were over 100 years old since they never aged and acted far too mature to hang out with the fairy-less children. They were indeed misfits that pair.

One was a young girl with tangley chocolately brown hair that always hung in her face, it was a rarity to see her emerald green eyes that shined underneath the matt of thick hair. She was always seen wearing raggaty old dresses that were far to big for her, she would pin the up underneath her clothing so she wouldn't embarass herself by tripping over her dress, her feet were always bare since she owned no shoes, and were always brown like the dirt she walked on, and she was never seen without a strange necklace that hung around her neck, it was given to her by her mother, so she had heard, it had a silver chain and a pretty green octagon shaped jewel in the middle that was outlined with a lighter green crystal, she didn't know what the symbol meant but it came from her mother so it was important to her.

The other child was a young boy, he had honey blonde hair that hung a little past his ears and his blonde hair fell just above his large sapphire-blue eyes. It was a rarity to hear this boy talk in Kokiri, he only talked to the young girl that he also hung out with. He was a polite young boy, very unlike his friend, who was obnoxious and very blunt. He was very well liked in Hyrule except for the one exception of the Kokiri Forest, he wasn't accepted for being different,and he was exceptionally teased by the Forest caretaker Mido who went out of his way to make fun of the young boy. The boy could always be seen decked out in Kokiri boots and a green Kokiri tunic that was given to him by his own caretaker Saria. Saria looked after both of the two young children into her home and heart since both of them were orphans. Saria had found the young girl abandoned in the Lost Woods a couple years back, the young girl was starved and dehydrated, she took her to her tree house in Kokiri Forrest and questioned the young girl about her past but she could hardly speak and didn't remember who she was or where she had come from, the only thing Saria knew was about the necklace around the young girls neck, the young girl had babbled about it as she wavered in and out of consciousness the first night Saria found her. The young boy (who had already been adopted by Saria) stood by the young girl and was very protective over her for the first couple weeks of her stay. The young boy's mother had entrusted him with The Great Deku Tree as her last wish, during that time the great war was going on, the young boy's father had already tragically been killed in battle, the mother pleaded with the guardian of the Kokiri and he gladly accepted to take care of the boy and promised to keep him safe until he became of age.

The two friends felt safe with each other, they had a lot in common and life had been hard to them, they seeked refugee in one another and it gave them great comfort when they spent time together. They were happily wading in the creek together splashing each other with glee and just being happy together. At least for a few minutes.

"This is getting boring..." The young girl whined as she stopped splashing and plopped herself down in the grass as she pulled her dress up for the hundreth time as she looked at her best friend.

"Well what else do you want to do?" The young boy said also growing bored of playing in the water, he joined his friend on the grass..."Do you wanna play tag?" he asked innocently getting a hopeful expression on his face.

"No we need more people to play with us, and none of the other Kokiri like us." the girl said getting a sad look on her face. She shuffled her feet around in the dirt causing them to get even more dirty.

"Well then what should we do?" The young boy said feeling a little frusturated and also a tad bit hurt that his friend has just said none of the Kokiri liked them. It was a true but it still wasn't fun to be told that you are an outcast and nobody likes you. He pondered, trying to think of a new game that they could play. "I KNOW!" he shouted happily..."Let's get married!" he said looking over at his best friend feeling very happy with himself.

"Okay!" she said happily. "But first you have to propose to me the right way." she said getting all serious.

"What's that?" the young boy asked feeling very confused.

"I don't know, its when you get down on the ground and ask the girl to marry you." she said in a very matter-of-fact tone. "And..." she continued..."we have to find two wedding rings."

"Oh...right." the boy said as he and his friend searched the ground for something they could slip on their fingers for their pretend wedding.

While the two were playing happily they didn't seem to notice that the forrest had grown quiet, all the other Kokiri had run into their homes out of fright, no one warned them for what was about to happen. One moment the two were playing happily outside and then the next moment the two of them looked up and to they saw their caretaker Saria running out of the lost woods. "Run!" she screamed at the two of them who were oblivious that their caretaker was scared. Her green hair was tangled and full of leaves and her green dress was torn and covered and dirt...but of course this was the normal attire for the orphaned children.

"See...we could've played tag." the young boy said smugly as his and his bride to be kept searching in the dirt for fake wedding rings. "Be quiet and keep looking..." the young girl said to her groom to be...she was excited to get married to her best friend.

"Children...RUN!" Saria screamed at them again running full speed out of the woods. Now the two kids finally realized something was amiss. The young girl stood frozen out of fear and refused to budge whereas the young boy tryed frantically to pry her out of her spot so they could run for cover. The young girl continued to not budge and kept staring at the place behind Saria. The young boy looked over to see what she was looking at. He stood silently his lips parted into a silent gasp as he looked up. Behind Saria was an army of dark elves. They brought with them swords, arrows, katanas, fire, and the most fearful was the heads they mounted on sticks as prizes...each head had their eyes opened and their mouths were wide with fear...the dark elves rode on giant wild boars that had red beady eyes and course dark hides. The dark elves laughed and hollored maliciously as they killed the whoever got in their path, cutting off their heads and then sticking them on sharp wooden poles. Saria was still running full speed at the children and the young girl would still not budge...the young boy pushed her desperately trying to move her...Saria was now about a foot away from them...she yelled at them to run again and them scooped up the young girl and headed for shelter at The Great Deku Tree during this process she had accidently torn off the girl's beloved necklace...the only thing besides her friend that meant anything to her.

"My necklace!!!" the girl screamed helplessly as Saria carried her away. "We'll have to leave it...we need to go now!" Saria said still running with the flailing girl in her arms. The young boy saw the look of despair on his young friends face and ran back to retrieve the necklace. "Don't!" Saria screamed at him still running with the struggling girl in her arms. "Link!!" the young girl screamed out begging for him not to leave, she was about to lose everything she cared for. She kicked and punched her caretaker trying to free herself from her tight arms. "I can't have you go too." Saria said plainly as she kept running on.

Link picked up the necklace but to his dismay, when he looked up his friend and Saria had already ran to The Great Deku Tree. He started to run after them, his friend's necklace in hand when he was scooped up by the leader of the Dark Elves. The Dark Elf cackled, his breath reeking in Link's face as he held the young boy up to show him to the rest of his army. "This one is young enough...we can re-educate him...make him fight for us." The Dark Elf said, his voice was low and rough and whenever he would speak no one in the army of elves would talk or show any sign of disrespect to their leader. Link put up a fight kicking and punching the dark elf trying to be let free. "Stop squirming...you'll regret it!" The Dark Elf said looking at Link with hatred in his eyes. Link glared and him returning the look of hatred and bit the dark elf in the arm causing him to bleed. To his surprise the elf just laughed a deep and low laugh. The rest of his army followed. "Look here...we have a fighter!" The Dark Elf said showing Link off to his crowd. "We'll reform him in a month or two no doubt." The Dark Elf said grinning widely, showing his blackend plaque covered teeth.

That was 10 years ago. Now Link sat at the age of 17, bitter and cold, and hungry for revenge.

ok i know that was sort of dorky but w/e they'll get more interesting as the story progresses...R&R!!!


	2. The Plan

**Okay chapter 1 (the first submission was a prologue) read and review...**

Chapter One

The Plan

Link had been sitting in a grimey cold celler for 3,650 days. That was far to much time for his liking. The celler smelled of mildew and something that resembled spoiled milk, it was infested with rats and spiders, and the worst part was probably the darkness. There were no windows in the cellar, the only light was illuminated from under the cracks of the door. Link was sitting in his usual corner in the cellar, it was the one closest away from the door, he did this in hopes that the dark elves would not pick him for labor, but his plan never worked. Most of the dark elves liked to pick on Link since Link had made numerous attempts to escape, but of course his plans were always thwarted and his dreams of returning home were shattered, once again.

Link looked around him and saw the same pale faces of the sad and beaten Hylians that he saw everyday...some were dying, some WERE dead and left in the cellar to rot to spread disease amoungst the others, some were so skinny that their ribs poked out of their stomachs, most were ancient and withered, and of course there were always the new recruits they would receive, terrified and in disbelief. They were Link's favorite, it wasn't as if he liked seeing people getting their free will taken away, it was just that he liked seeing someone who still had hopes of escaping like he. No one ever spoke in the cellar, everyone just waited, with their gaunt faces fixed on the door...waiting to be taken to the fields to be put to work...or just waiting to simply die. It was depressing...Link imaged that he had started to look like some of these Hylians...pale and defeated. The only time he went in the sunlight was when he was put to work or when he made a bold attempt to escape.

The person who guarded the cellar was a women in her mid-30s by the name of Beorthric, stress had made her appear older then she actual was, her dark black hair had streaks of grey lined in and her face had many wrinkles from when she would frown, she was a very skinny woman, hardly ever ate and most of all she was considered to be one of the nicer ones at the ranch Link was held at. Link had never gotten to speak to her but whenever he was hauled out to the field she always looked at him with sorrow in her eyes. Link didn't know why she did this, if she felt so bad for him then why didn't she just let him go? He didn't understand the nature of the dark elves, so he would never understand Beorthric painful looks.

Since Link had been captured long ago by the elf leader who he learned was named Vathek, the only knowledge that he had gathered was that Vathek had teamed up with the orc leader Grunak, (who wasn't a smart leader but very powerful) and had overthrown the King of Hyrule Castle, it seemed as though no one knew the whereabouts of the King but apparently Princess Zelda had been hiding in the Gerudo Fortress with their leader Nabooru. Shortly after Vathek took over the kingdom of Hyrule he betrayed Grunak, by killing Grunak's men, leaving the Orc Leader alone and powerless. Vathek had turned Hyrule into a land of dark elves, leaving the land poverty-stricken, hungry, and broken. No where in Hyrule was safe...the only place the Dark Elf Vathek wasn't able to affect was the Gerudo Fortress,it was the place Link planned to escape to as soon as he was able to.

Link was contemplating another sceme in his mind when he heard the cellar door open. All of the Hylians stopped breathing as they prayed that the dark elf wouldn't call their name. The dark elf looked around for a bit until he found what he was looking for. "Link..." he said pointing at the young man in the corner. Link looked up from his corner of the room, he recognized the dark elf as Nyk, this elf favored Link, which wasn't a good thing, whenever Nyk was in charge he made sure to pick Link to work out in the fields, the elf had long greasy white hair that hung in front of his red eyes, on the left side of his cheek there was a pretty decent sized scar that Link had given a few years back, Nyk always tried to hide it with his long hair, but whenever Link would spot the scar, it made him feel like he accomplished something in his ten years he spent in the cellar. "Yes, you maggot. I've got a real good treat for you today." Nyk smiled as he walked down the cellar stairs kicking as many Hylians out of his way as he could...he bent down to unlock Link's from his shackles...one pair was connecting his two hands together and the other connected his two ankles. "Yes...a real nice treat today..." Nyk said as he drug Link up the stairs. Just as Link had predicted Beothric was giving Link her sad eyes again but Link just ignored her stares and looked at the back of Nyk's greasy white hair.

Outside Link tried best to shield his eyes from the sun, he hadn't been outside in months and the sun was blinding him causing him to trip over himself. "Get up you filthy pig." Nyk said picking Link up and then pushing him back down...Nyk laughed at himself. "Well...aren't you curious as to what your special treat is?" Nyk said smiling with his ugly teeth, all the Dark Elves in the army had poor hygiene, you could always tell the rank's of Dark Elves by their hygiene, Nyk was near the bottom. "Speak when you're spoken to." Nyk spat angrily at Link, he was mad that Link wouldn't play along in his sick game. "What?" Link said sounding irritated, his voice was hoarse and raspy from not talking and it surprised him by how weak he sounded. "No," Nyk said hitting Link in the back of the knee with a club, "it's 'Yes sir.'" "Yes sir." Link repeated, feeling very appauled with himself. "Oh I can't tell you it's a surprise..." Nyk said laughing again at his own joke.

Nyk had dragged the boy clear out to the training grounds like he always did with Link, Nyk never took Link to the fields, he always took him to the training grounds. 'A laughable warrior' Nyk had always called Link when they would duel. Of course that was before Link put a nasty scar on Nyk's cheek. But today it was different...instead of handing Link a sword, Nyk lead Link over to a large wooden pole that stood in the middle of the training ground. "Do you want to know you're surprise yet?" Nyk sneered. "Yes, sir." Link replied not wanting to get pushed down again..."You'll see soon." Nyk laughed as he tied Link hands behind his back and around the pole. Nyk had tied the ropes just tight enough so that they would cut off his circulation, Link didn't wince once...showing weakness was welcome at the ranch but he didn't want to give Nyk any pleasure today. Nyk looked at Link's face to see if he was wincing from the tight ropes but to Nyk's disappointed he wasn't...Nyk furrowed his white eyebrows for a second before he tied the ropes even tighter around Link's beaten up wrists. Nyk looked back up at Link's face and again to his disappointed Link wasn't wincing or complaining...Nyk spit in Link's face before laughing and walking away. Link tried to shake off the disgusting strand of liquid off of his chin. "What is that stupid elf up to? He's lucky I'm tied up...as soon as I'm free he'll be the first to go." Link thought to himself angrily. "The old Link wouldn't have thought like this." Link's conscious said in the back of his head. "The old Link would be dead by now." Link thought pushing his conscious back. "What is taking that stupid elf so long?" Link wondered. The elf had been gone for at least twenty minutes. Link was starting to sweat underneath the hot sun, it was making him drowsy, but no matter, he couldn't sleep in the middle of the training grounds, what would Nyk do if he caught Link sleeping? "I could've escaped by now if I really wanted to. No vile elf has shown up this whole time." Link thought feeling suddenly angry at his stupidity, he could've been free...or not.

Because just then Nyk showed up with about 10 other dark elves...each one was carrying a bow and arrow..."Would you like to know your surprise now? You're going to be target practice!" Nyk said doing a happy dance. The other dark elves gave him dirty looks so Nyk stopped his dancing and went into a more serious tone. "Well...boys you know what to do." Nyk said as he stepped back and waited for one of the archers to shoot the young boy who had scared his face. The first archer stood up and pulled back his arrow taking a few seconds to aim...fortunately for Link the wind picked up and the arrow whizzed past Link's left ear. With the second archer Link wasn't as lucky, the arrow grazed him in the side of his stomach, tearing his tatterted grey work shirt and piercing the skin, a little bit of blood dripped out of Link's side. When the third archer was about to shoot, Link started to panic.

He squirmed and wiggled his wrists around in hope to loosen the rope, thankfully the dark elves were cheap and they had purchused a very poor quality of rope...the rope began to fray and eventually one of the binds holding Link snapped. The third archer shot his arrow and barely missed Link by an inch. Link was working faster now..now two more binds had snapped and there were only three more to go. The fourth archer shot, this time it hit above the top of Link's head. "One more..." Link thought to himself frantically trying to undo the last bind which also happend to be the tightest. Nyk was laughing hysterically on the sidelines. The fith arrow was getting ready to shoot and as soon as the archer let go of the arrow Link had freed himself...the arrow hit right where Link's stomach should've been. Link started to run for the exit but to his misfortune the sixth archer was able to hit him this time.

The arrow hit Link in his lower left leg, Link pulled it out quickly before trying to escape again, it was proving to be difficult since his leg was in so much pain. "Stupid maggot! Trying to escape again." Nyk said as he ran up behind Link and tackled him to the ground before he pulled Link back up and pulled him by the hair back to the cellar. Link saw Beothric give him the same sad look and he just looked at her angrily, she could've let him out a long time ago. "You can stay down here and rot for all I care." Nyk said opening up the cellar door, the Hylians didn't look surprised that Link had gotten into trouble with Nyk again. Before leaving Nyk kicked Link in his arrow wound before he pushed Link down the stairs.

Link landed with a thud on the cellar floor, his leg hurt and was bleeding profusely but Link couldn't be happier. Nyk, in his haste and anger had forgotten to put the shackles back on Link. Link was finally going to be free. He was going to escape...tonight. Withouth the shackles to tie him down he could finally run, it was perfect, all he had to do was sneak past the guards and none of them would expect it since his leg was injured, but then again they would never suspect that stupid Nyk had forgotten to chain him up. In the corner of the cellar, Link came up with a plan.

Two hours after Link had been shot with the arrow the wound had at least stopped bleeding...now all Link had to do was wait for nightfall so he could make his escape. It wouldn't be too long, the light that came from under the door was getting dimmer and dimmer, it was almost dark outside, just a few more minutes. Link watched as the light under the door until it disappeared, it felt like forever. The next thing he had to wait for was the snores of Boethric, she normally went to sleep right after sun-down. Her snores were abnormally loud for such a tiny woman.

While he patiently and reluctantly waited he thought back to the times when he was young and free to do what he pleased. Even though he was a misfit at least he had a friend to be a misfit with, now there was nobody to talk to, the prisoners didn't talk they were too afraid and weak and the only conversation from the dark elves were normally not good ones. Link hadn't seen his friens since he had been locked up, he often wondered if she had forgotten about him which was a terrible thought. Then another terrible thought occured to him. "What if she had died?" The last Link saw of her was when her and Saria running of to the Great Deku Tree, after that it was a mystery. "No, she's alive." Link reassured himself.

He pulled out the shiny necklace from his pocket and looked at it with content. It reminded him of his friend, Saria, and his homeland, it was nice to know that he had something to hold onto that was from his childhood.

"What is that in your hand?" an old frail Hylian asked Link, snapping him out of his thoughts. The man was referring to the necklace.

"Nothing." Link said shoving the necklace back into his pocket protectively, concealing it from the old man's view.

The old guy was about to say something back, but Link cut him off for he had just heard what he was waiting for. Boethric was snoring, it was the most heavenly sound in the world. Excitedly Link jumped up from off the ground and ran up the cellar stairs. In his haste he tripped and made a loud thud on the stairs. "Slow down, you're going to ruin it." he reminded himself as he slowly approached the top of the stairs. He jiggled the door handle and to his surprise it was open. You would think that the dark elves would've locked the door just in case they had forgotten to lock up a prisoner. Link slowly pushed the door open and peeked his head through so he could survey the room. Boethric was curled up on her dirty stained cot in the far right side of the room, she stirred a bit when Link had opened the door but she began to snore again only after a few seconds. Link slowly crept through the small living space as quietly as he possibly could, he took baby steps and tried not to put to much pressure on his feet afraid that if he did the wooden flooring would creak and wake up the snoozing Boethric.

Link had reached the door, he grasped the doorknob in his sweaty hand and slowly turned the knob. He slowly pulled the door open and put one foot out the door.

"What are you doing?!?" a loud voice came from behind Link, causing him to jump. Boethric had woken up and she looked mad. She pulled on her robe and went over to the door where Link was standing. Link was speechless, he had been so close escaping, and what was he supposed to tell her? "Are you trying to escape again?" Boethric questioned him. Link gave a silent nod and then put his hands behind his back and waited for the woman to lock him back up.

"Well, you can't go out like that." Boethric said her voice softening. "Here put this cloak on, you'll blend in with the guards, try not to show your face." she said throwing Link a dark maroon hooded cloak.

"Um...thank you." Link said astonished that Boethric was helping him. He pulled the cloak over himself and made sure that the hood covered his hair and eyes, the only thing that showed on him was his mouth and chin. As long as he kept his head bowed the dark elves wouldn't recognize him. "Why are you doing this?" Link asked, he couldn't help he, he just wanted to know why Boethric had a sudden change of heart.

"You're different then the other people that come in here. And you're much to young to waste your life sitting in this dump." she said gesturing to their surrounding. "Just be careful and promise that later you will come back and rescue the rest of us." Boethric smiled and opened up the door for Link.

"I promise." he said before slipping out of the door.

Outside the cloak was doing wonders. Link stayed in the shadows of the buildings trying carefully not to be noticed, when he was he just got a wave from the other guards. The ranch Link was staying at wasn't very large so he didn't have to walk to far. He was near the stables when he spotted Nyk with another guard. Link veered over to the opposite side and walked as fastly as he could permit without being too loud. Link could see the exit this time, it was the farthest he had ever gotten to the exit. "Just a few more yards." he thought to himself and he picked up the pace.

"Hey, you! Where are you going?" said a voice that Link recognized as Nyk's. Link ignored him and continued walking. "Wait up." Nyk said as he ran up to Link. Link continued to keep his head down afraid to look up. Nyk was now tapping on Link's shoulder. "I asked you a question." Nyk persisted. Link still said nothing, if he did Nyk would recognize his voice. "Talk!" Nyk said getting angry. When Link still ignored him, he got even more upset.

Just then to Link's horror Nyk had pulled off his hood. "You!" Nyk shouted when he realized who it was under the hood. Link ran, fortunately for Link, Nyk was slow. Link made it out of the entrance with Nyk a couple yards behind him. Link ran until he could no longer see Nyk from behind him, it felt good to run and be outside.

He was free.

**I'll write chapter 2 when I get some 5 reviews**


	3. The Unexpected Visitor

Sight Chapter** 2 and still no reviews...depressing...does anybody even like this????no??? then review and tell me that...anywho this chapter is longer i think? instead of doing just one character's perspective the whole time i thought i'd do several...idk if that is liked or not but w/e...i did it anyway...if you don't like it tell me. but yes anywho...ON WITH THE STORY!!! Oh and by the way everybody HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!!!!**

Chapter 2

The Unexpected Visitor

Princess Zelda was sitting in the lounge room at the Gerudo Fortress, she was by herself again as she preferred it. She sat daydreaming while she gazed out the window. The wind was making patterns with the sand outside as it blowed the sand every whichway. Nabooru wasn't there, which was a rarity, as much as Zelda appreciated Nabooru for taking her in, she got annoyed with the Gerudo hanging around her all the time. It was just what the Princess needed...a babysitter. Zelda was almost an adult and she was getting sick of everybody treating her like a child. Even before Vathel had taken over her kingdom, someone was always spying on her watching her every move.

Nabooru had left to go find more people to help with their plan. The plan was to aquire enough people to form a rebellion that would go against the dark elves. So far they had only gained the trust of the women of Gerudo dessert but most of the time they were too busy trying to guard the fortress, about once a week a dark elf commander would come and try to gain control of the Gerudo Fortress but had no luck. Nabooru was currently in the Kokiri Forrest trying to find some survivors that lived inside of the Deku Tree to come and join them.

Like Zelda cared. Nobody ever asked her opinion about things and nobody listend to her when she did speak. Zelda had made several attempts to persuade the guard to let her go out. Nabooru had said the guard was to keep people from getting in, but everyone knew it was just to keep Zelda from getting out. She had began to grow restless after about twenty minutes of doing nothing. She put her head in her hands as she shook her head in disapproval. Her kingdom was going down the drain and she couldn't do anything about it.

Nabooru had promised to be back in a few short hours, but she had been gone for most of the day, she left in the early morning and now it was almost twilight outside. During the time Nabooru was gone, Zelda got to do nothing as usual. She talked to no one and no one talked to her, she almost wished that she wouldn't have come to the fortress and would've gotten captured instead. It was probably more exciting than this.

"Umm...excuse me. Do you know when Nabooru is coming back?" Zelda asked the guard timidly.

"She'll be back shortly." the guard said saying as little as possible before he reassumed his position.

"Oh...thanks." Zelda said as she sat back down and went back to waiting. The guard had been saying the same thing for the past two hours and Zelda was beginning to worry if something bad had happend to her friend. If something bad did happen Zelda didn't know where else she would go. She hadn't made any alliances with the women outside of the fortress and she was pretty sure none of them liked her. The Gerudos were thieves which meant that they didn't get along with the royal family. So most of the women hated her.

Her eyes had grown weary from being tired and bored and she decided that she couldn't wait for the Gerudo leader any longer. She took one last peek outside and noticed now that the sky had tured dark. Zelda slowly got out of her chair and went in the direction of the bedroom.

As soon as she had reached halfway down the hallway the front door slammed open.

Nabooru had just returned along with three other people that Zelda did not recognize. They didn't look as if they were Kokiri. One was tall and had dark black hair that covered his dark blue eyes, he wore heavy metal armor that covered his whole body and was carrying a large sword behind his back. The second person was a little bit shorter and had light brown short hair with silver eyes, he didn't look like much of a warrior compared to the man next to him, he had a sword too but it wasn't nearly as big as his friends and he wasn't wearing armor, he had scars all over his arms and looked very tired, and finally the third person was a young girl that looked no older than Zelda, she had flamboyant red hair that hung a little past her shoulders and bright green eyes, she also wore a lot of heavy armor like the man with black hair, she carried two large swords in on the side of her belt. The girl unlike the other too, looked more welcoming then the boys, she wore a more playful look on her face while the other two had solemn serious looks that covered their face like a shadow. But the thing they had in common was that they all look around the same age as Zelda.

"Zelda..." Nabooru said, "Come here I want you to meet these people. Don't be rude." Nabooru said, treating Zelda as if she were a child yet again.

Zelda reluctantly walked over, feeling furious that Nabooru had treated her like this in front of these people that she hardly knew. It was ridiculous that Nabooru was only 2 years older than her and she acted as if she were Zelda's mother.

"The guy with the black hair is Owyn," Nabooru said. The man nodded and then looked away nervously. "This is his brother Raen." Nabooru said pointing to the guy with light brown hair. Raen gave Zelda a weak smile. "And this..."

"I am Araxia." the girl introduced herself putting her hand out to shake Zelda's.

"Oh, hi...I'm..."

"Zelda. I know you are the princess after all..duh." the girl said cutting Zelda off. Zelda just blushed. The girl had surprised her with by being so outgoing. She expected her to be shy like the other too.

"Oh..um...thanks.." Zelda said not knowing what to say. "Are you their sister?" she said trying to make small talk with her visitors.

"Pssh...are you kidding...I would rather die than be related to those two." Araxia said, Zelda couldn't tell if she was joking or not. "But no, I met those two idiots in the Great Deku Tree about two years ago, I guess you could say they were my brothers because they act like it." Zelda assumed the girl was just kidding because she had a big smile on her face. "I swear these two follow me everywhere, I can't get any privacy." Araxia said continuing.

"Well with your big mouth, you need protection." Owyn said merging his way into the conversation.

Nabooru gave Zelda a slight push. "What?" Zelda whispered looking at Nabooru wondering what on earth she wanted this time.

"Don't be rude to our guests, ask them if they are hungry." Nabooru said with a stern look on her face.

"Oh sorry." Zelda said, she really wasn't, she was just the opposite. Why couldn't Nabooru do it? Zelda wasn't a servant, she was a princess and since she had been her she got no respect from anybody so why should she have to pay their guests some? But as usual Zelda didn't want to make a fuss so she asked if the three house guests wanted any fruit, vegtables, or goat milk. Nabooru hadn't been able to go out to get meat for quite some time, it was hard to come around good food now that the dark elves had taken over, so there wasn't much to make a feast with. Thankfully all of the guests politely refused so it was one less chore for the princess to do.

After Nabooru had Zelda show the guests where they would be sleeping and give them the tour of the fortress, Nabooru decided it was time to start discussing what they should do with the rebellion.

"Well lets get down to buisness now shall we?" Nabooru said while she pushed her flaming red pony tail off of her shoulder and sat down on a chair that was centered around a big oak table. The only time Nabooru used the table was normally for meeting. Nabooru beckoned for the rest of her company to sit with her. The four obliged and sat down at the table with her. Zelda distanced herself away from Owyn, Raen, and Araxia, but despite her efforts Araxia sat down next to her anyway. Zelda didn't care though, maybe she'd finally make a friend in her own god awful prison.

"As you can see we don't have much here, we've got you three," Nabooru said beckoning to the three newcomers, "and a few of my Gerudo women have agreed to fight also."

"Not true," Raen said, "There is a small rebellion in the south that has taken camp by Lake Hylia, me and my brother Owyn are friends with their leader, I don't know how many people are in that group but I am sure that they would be more than happy to help."

"Quiet little brother, we haven't seen them in almost two years. We don't even know if they are still settled in Lake Hylia, they've probably moved, or worse they are probably dead." Owyn said solemnly. Zelda was shocked by his words, it wasn't hard to tell which brother was opptimistic and which one was pessimistic. Whenever Owyn would speak he wouldn't look up at anyone but instead just stare at the ground or ceiling, his odd behavior made Zelda curious.

"Why are you like that?" Zelda pondered in her head as she stared at Owyn without him noticing, she hardly paid attention to what the others were saying but instead watched Owyn's actions. Whenever anybody said something that was positive his face would crease into a slight frown, then he would say something negative. Him and Araxia butted heads quite a bit.

Nothing of much interest was really accomplised, mostly the four would squabble over silly things. "Nabooru is not a very good leader." Zelda thought to herself with a bit of satisfaction. She didn't care anymore if Nabooru was the one that had taken her under her wing. Zelda would much rather prefer to be alone then be dictated by someone else.

Owyn didn't like Nabooru much either, she was too weak. She may have been the leader of the Gerudo's but what good was that? She was only a woman, a man would've suited the job much better. Owyn was feeling quite annoyed with everyone, his brother and Araxia were both idiotic, they didn't think things through rationally and always thought things would work out for the best, didn't they realize that life was not perfect? And another thing that had bothered him was that he noticed Zelda staring at him with her sky blue eyes. He would admit that she was cute and that she was a princess but still it was rude to stare and Owyn didn't care for people with staring problems.

"Okay...I'm going to bed." Owyn said standing up from the table. He had caught Zelda staring at him again and Araxia and Raen were both still being very stupid. He got up and pushed in his chair before Araxia came running after him.

"Are you angry? You can't be angry just because we don't agree with you. Will you stop walking and tell me why you're going to bed?" Araxia said following Owyn all the way down the hall until he had reached his bedroom.

"I am not angry, I am tired, you are making me angry, yes I disagree with you because you are being idiots and I don't want to argue any longer so hence I am going to sleep, now will you leave me alone?" Owyn asked getting irritared with Araxia.

"Maybe if you weren't so negative all the time Abby would still be here." Araxia said in a hushed voice before she stormed off. Owyn couldn't believe that she had brought Abby up, so he did the only thing he could think off, he slammed his door and attempted to go to sleep.

Araxia was mad no doubt, it wasn't any fun when you thought you had a good idea and then Owyn went and ruined it. He did it all the time and she was getting sick of it, you think he would learn after what had happened with Abby. The three remainding people were still sitting at the oak table in silence, one by one they got up and started to walk off to bed, it wasn't too late in the night but it had been a long and stressful day, the journey had taken over at least half the day!

"We'll try again tomorrow." Raen said patting Araxia on the shoulder putting he retreated to bed. He was referring to his brother. Owyn went on spurts, some days he would be the happiest guy in the world and other days he would be like he was today, thickheaded and glum. It wasn't fair to everybody else, it really toyed around with everybody's emotions.

"I can't believe I used to like that jerk." Araxia thought to herself still very angry and upset. When she was around 15 she had like Owyn and she thought he liked her too, but then he started being very mean to her and everyone around him, so Araxia was forced to get over him and learn to deal with his drastic mood swings every once in a while. Now that she thought about it she was tired also. Araxia walked down the hallway to her room which was nearest to the exit.

She tied up her long red hair into a bun and unpacked the little clothes that she had brought with her. She planned on going back to the Kokiri Forest and grab the rest. They had left in such a hurry that they hardly had any time to pack up their belongings. Oh well what were you going to do about it. Araxia was just happy that they had finally left the stinking rotting tree, the Deku Tree started dying after Vathl had taken over and it did not smell very pleasant, and to top it all off it was teaming with other survivors that sought refugee in their. Araxia felt sorry for all those that were left behind. Eventually they will all be captured by the dark elves and be imprisoned. Araxia had seen less and less people in the Deku Tree everyday and it was no doubt that they had been captured by the dark elves and made slaves. "I'm starting to think like Owyn now." Araxia chided herself. "No, they will be fine, we'll find a way to rescue them." she thought putting a more positive idea in her head.

She crawled into her bed, it was quite comfy, she had imagined it would've been a small cot but it was actually a full size bed and was very soft. However soft the bed was Araxia could not go to bed. She lay restless for what felt like hours, staring at the ceiling, and then the wall, and then the other wall, then the ceiling again and so on and so forth. Feeling defeated she decided that maybe a warm glass of goat milk would do the trick. She hoped out of bed and went off to where the kitchen was. Everyone else in the house must've already been sleeping because Araxia could hear Owyn and Raen's heavy snoring, after the few years she'd spent with them she had learned to get used to it. She rummaged into the cupboards when she found what she was looking for, she drank her milk and then went to go stand out by the balcony. It was surprisingly cold by the balcony even though she was in the dessert. She shivered and rubbed her hand together. She could see the stars perfectly out here, when she had been taking refugee, nobody was allowed to go outside after dark. In fact nobody was allowed to go outside in the daytime either unless they went with a large group of people. Those of course were Mido's instructions.

Mido was a short little guy, he was leader of the Kokiri but Araxia always laughed whenever she saw him because he looked like a little kid that gave orders. Araxia stayed outside and looked at the stars some more, they reminded her life before Vathl had taken over, she didn't come from a very rich family but she had at least been happy, every night her and her parents and her younger brother had always looked at the stars before they went to bed, she missed them terribly.

Before Araxia could make herself any sadder she decided she had done enough thinking for one night and get some sleep. Araxia had made it halfway down the hallway looking at her feet as they shuffled across the floor, when she looked up again she wasn't alone, in front of her was a dark elf, she could tell because of his clothing, the dark elf jumped when he saw her. "How did he get in here?" Araxia thought desperately to herself, she was about to scream but the dark elf covered her mouth. "Shut up if you know what's good for you." he ordered her. Araxia obeyed, after all she had suffered through she was going to be captured and made a slave until the day she died.

**Come one people I need some REVIEWS!!! I don't know if anybody likes this story or not and I don't even know if I'm going to keep on writing if I don't get any FEEDBACK!! so please it will take you like 5 seconds...honestly...i deserve something...even it is negative**


	4. Friendly Greeting

chapter 3... exciting...ick...

disclaimer: i dont own zelda

Chapter Three

Friendly Greetings

"I'm going to die, I'm going to die." was all Araxia could think of. The dark elf still had his hand cupped around her mouth, trying to prevent her from screaming. She wanted to so bad but she was afraid of what the results would be. The dark elf drug her over to the main room and pushed her over to the couch, the only noise that she could hear was the sound of their feet hitting the floor and loud snoring of Kaen and Owyn.

"Where is your leader?" the dark elf asked, his voice was peculiar. It didn't sound like a normal dark elf's voice, it wasn't a loud and rough but instead more softer and smooth sounding. "I said where is your leader?" he asked again, his maroon hood was still pulled over his head. Araxia took another look at him, something was amiss she knew it. "Answer my question!" he said in a harsh whisper. He grabbed Araxia's arm making her look at him.

"I...I don't know." Araxia said, which was the truth, Nabooru didn't sleep in the vicinity where Zelda, slept but instead over by where the Gerudo women were and no one had showed her where it earlier on that evening.

The dark elf looked at her, or at least that's what it looked like, his hooded face was angled directly towards her. It was making her uncomfortable. She shifted her hands from her sides to on her lap, she didn't know what this person wanted but it was terrifying. "Who are you?" she said finally mustering up the courage to ask, she had never met a dark elf in person and she was quite curious on to what he was planning on doing, from her knowledge of the creatures she thought he would have already slaughtered her or captured her without questioning.

"It doesn't matter." he said stiffly. Araxia thought she saw a glimpse of pale skin underneath the hood, maybe it was the moonlight fooling her, but she couldn't sworn she saw a light piece of flesh quickly flash under his hood, dark elves normally had dark skin, this didn't make any sense at all.

Araxia's interest in the man was growing more intense by the minute. He was very peculiar, no doubt about that. The mysterious hooded figure moved around the fortress opening up door after door as he looked for Nabooru. Araxia noticed that he walked with a limp.

"You weren't lying about not knowing where she was did you?" he said, his voice was growing kinder. He walked over to the tan couch where Araxia sat as he took the seat next to her. "Do you have anything to drink? I'm assuming I will have to wait until morning to meet this Nabooru woman." he said still not removing his hood.

Araxia had jumped when he sat down next to her, it was unexpected for him to get so close to her. She stammered when she next spoke, she was growing nervous, any moment now he would try to kill her. "I-I-s'pose, we've got water and goat milk, it'll be warm though." she said as she wrung her hands together, she noticed that they were getting clammy.

"Milk would be fine." he said angling his face towards Araxia's again. She didn't like when he did that, it made her very skittish.

"If you don't mind me asking..." Araxia said as she got up to get the milk, she grabbed a jug of the liquid from one of the cupboards and poured it into a dusty old mug, most of the dining in the house was dusty, they must have not gotten visitors often, "what happend to your leg?" Araxia walked back over to the couch, as she handed the figure his mug and awaited for him to answer her.

The man drew in his breath and then took a long pause before saying anything to her. Araxia was beginning to think he wasn't going to tell her, but then he spoke. "I got shot by a dark elf with an arrow, went right through my leg." he said drawing in another deep breath. Araxia thought he would go into more detail but when he didn't she decided it was up to her to carry on the conversation.

"You're not one of them are you?" she said bluntly. From all the evidence she had gathered so far she thought it was a safe question to ask. This man had light skin, he didn't try to kill her, his voice had a different tone, and he had been shot by a dark elf. But she wasn't entirely sure since he had to sneak into the fortress and was looking around for Nabooru and his clothing was exactly the same as the ones the dark elf guards wore.

"Fortunately I am not." he said, Araxia noticed that his hands were shaking a bit, a bit of milk slasphed out of the mug and hit the floor when he answered this. He noticed this and quickly took a sip from the mug to try and distract Araxia's attention from his earlier action.

"You were a prisoner weren't you? Was it was bad as it sounds?" Araxia said wanting to know more about what had happend to make this person so nervous. She didn't care if it was rude she just wanted some answers. The more they spoke the more interested in him she became.

"It was worse then the stories, can you imagine not seeing the sun for days? Weeks maybe? Perhaps months?." the hooded figure faced himself toward the girl again.

"Yes, I can." she said feeling offended that he thought she had not suffered also.

"Oh, I am quite sure." he said sarcastically. This hurt Araxia's feelings. However much he had suffered, it still didn't give him the right to treat her like that. She was about to make a rude remark but decided against it, she still wanted to know more about this man's story. She felt as if she had barely scratched the surface with him and she didn't want to make him angry quite yet. Neither person knew what to say after the man's sarcastic remark so they both just sat in silence. Araxia was growing impatient, she felt as if this person should explain himself more, after all it was very rude of him coming in and scaring the wits out of her.

"Be patient," she reminded herself, "he needs some time, remember he just got out of the prison probably, remember you weren't to keen to talk after you were out of the Deku Tree?" the little voice in her head asked...she knew it was right but she was so impatient! The two people on the couch were still in silence, the only noises were again, the snoring, and the occassional slurp the mysterious figure made when he drank his milk. When he finallly downed the mug he spoke again.

"Is there a girl around your age here with dark brown hair?" the figure asked, making Araxia jump, she hadn't expected him to talk.

"No, why do you ask?" she asked trying to not show how eager she was.

She didn't get an answer from him because right after she asked the question she saw Raen pop out of his bedroom door, his light brown hair was sticking up in all angles and his eyes were outlined in red from tiredness. He stepped out from his bedroom and then into the hallway, he smiled at Araxia, he looked goofy. His remained happy until he saw the maroon figure sitting on the couch. "What is this? A dark elf in the fortress! Araxia! You couldn't yelled for help, I'm sorry I should've woken up sooner. Owyn!" Raen screamed, the goofy look on his face had disappeared.

"No wait you don't understand...he's not..." Araxia's voice was silenced by Raen who had been screaming for Owyn to wake up. When Owyn appeared he had a large silver sword in his right hand, he looked angry like his brother. "Stop you don't understand its not what you think." Araxia pleaded, the man on the couch was shifting nervously towards Araxia looking for some sort of protection, his hands were extremely shaky.

"Don't get any closer to her." Owyn said his voice booming throughout the fortress. He walked over to the where the very surprised Araxia sat, and where the very nervous hooded man sat. "Stand up!" Owyn ordered the man. When the hooded figure did stand up so did Araxia.

"Owyn stop! You don't know what you're doing!" Araxia yelled as she hit the tall man beside her. It didn't even phase Owyn because he was wearing his armor, he always wore it to bed. 'In case of a crisis.' Owyn would say.

"You're lucky I don't slit your throat right now." Owyn snarled at the hooded figure. Owyn now had the mysterious man by the back of the neck to ensure that he didn't go anywhere. "As a matter of fact, why shouldn't I?" Owyn said as he got a look of happiness in his dark blue eyes. "You've done nothing but cause misery to Hyrule, you deserve to die." Owyn said as he held the sharp blade dangerously close to the man's throat. Raen laughed behind his brother.

"Because he is not a dark elf!" Araxia screamed as she yanked off the mysterious man's hood. All four of them gasped. Araxia now understood why he had kept his face hidden, he wasn't ugly but he didn't look quite healthy. His saaphire blue eyes looked hollow and had dark black circles underneath them, his honey-blonde hair was greasy and matted and was sticking to the man's face, well he wasn't actually a man but instead of a young adult just like the other two males in the room. His face looked horrible, his skin was papery white and had no color in the cheeks, he looked almost transparent, it was unnatural. The young adult hung his head down in shame.

"You two should be ashamed of yourselves." Araxia screamed at Raen and Owyn who were also hanging their heads down in shame, they felt horrible for what they had done to the poor guy. They realized that he wasn't a threat but instead a victim and had endured enough suffering to last a lifeime, it definately showed in his face. "It's not you're fault." Araxia said softly as she looked up at the sad boy, he was refusing to look up and meet her amythest eyes.

After Owyn and Raen had said their apologies and everyone had calmed down after the shock from the mistruted figure of the boy, he started to warm up a bit. He grew a bit more talkative and told them about how he had escaped with the help of a dark elf woman named Beothric and how he had been imprisoned for ten years. The three Hylian's sat around listening to him, nobody spoke, they showed him the utmost respect as they listened and drank in everyword he said. After he had finished telling the three after his journey the sun was peering up over the horizon. It was almost sunrise.

Owyn cleared his throat and sat up from the floor. "Hey kid, you can stay here for tonight, sleep in my room, I'll take the couch. We'll talk to Nabooru in the morning."

Araxia was surprised by Owyn's act of kindness, but decided not to say anything to ruin the moment, her and Raen just shared a look of glee together.

"Oh and by the way, my name is not kid. It's Link." the young adult said before he turned in the direction of Owyn's room and shut the door.

r&r I need feedback people!!!


	5. The Lost Woods

**Mkay chapter 4...tada! it seems that i have made a mistake concerning Araxia, her hair color is black and her eyes are supposed to be purple in the past chapters i've been putting red hair and green eyes...oops...anywayz i'm sure you're sick of me talking so on with the story**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Zelda, but I do own some of the characters, if you want to use them (I don't u will) ask me**

Chapter Four

The Lost Woods

The next morning Link awoke to the sounds of birds chirping opposed to the sound of Hylians screaming, it was a nice change. He slept the best he had slept in his whole life, the fortress had provided him with a bed, which was new to him, when he had been with Saria and his best friend the two of them would sleep on the floor or if Saria came home late they would sleep on her hard cot, then when he was at the the dark elf ranch he would sleep on dirt with his arms and legs hooked together. Link stretched out his arms and legs before he picked up his tattered grey workshirt, it had once been white but it was his only shirt that he had throughout the years so it had turned an off white yellow color, then a mud brown, and finally the greyish brown color it now was along with the various stains and blood it had accumulated. The more he looked at it, the more disgusted Link got. On second thought he decided not to wear it, he'd look dirtier with it on. Instead he just put on the long maroon cloak and put the hood back over his face. It was extremely hot out in the dessert but by the way the other house residents had acted the night before Link would rather feel hot then be felt sorry for. The last thing he needed was their sympathy, last night they had looked at him as if he were a monster. Link hadn't had a chance to catch a glimpse of himself yet but he imagined that he looked pretty unhealthy and dirty. After making sure that the hood was carefully pulled over his face he stepped outside to join the other housemates eating breakfast.

In the dining room there sat Araxia, Owyn, Raen, and even Zelda. "How embarassing, its my first time meeting the princess of Hyrule and I have to be dressed in this stupid cloak." Link thought to himself as he sat down with the others. Araxia smiled at him as he sat, Owyn ignored him and so did Raen, and Zelda screamed.

"It's okay, he's not a dark elf, he came in last night. His name is Link." Araxia said cheerfully as she ushered Link forward to the princess. Link offered a gloved hand to shake Zelda's hand.

"Isn't it hot in all that clothing?" Zelda asked, looking at Link's attire warily.

"Trust me, you don't want to see what's underneath." Link joked lightly. Araxia laughed, while Zelda gave a polite chuckle.

"I'll explain later." Link heard Araxia whisper to Zelda behid his back. He wondered what the princess would think of him after that. Link felt awkward sitting with the four others. He didn't know how much time they had spent in the fortress but Owyn and Raen were giving him the cold shoulder and Araxia was trying to make polite small talk, either that or she was just always talkative. Link surveyed his surroundings, they hurt his eyes, everything was so bright out in the dessert. The dining room wasn't very large it just consisted of a few chairs and a table and some odd painting of Gerudo warriors on the wall, while the lounge room was a bit bigger, it was where Link had first met Owyn and Raen. The lounge had an old oak bookshelf and severel plush armchairs and couches and in the middle of the wall was a large fireplace. Surrounding the lounge's doors were various bedrooms and to the right of the lounge was the kitchen and then down the hall there was a nice balcony. Link's eyes were burning from all the light that was emitted in the fortress. It was nice though to be back in the real world even if it was taken over by dark elfs.

Link was taken aback by the sound of later, he had been so busy day dreaming that he hadn't noticed that someone else had joined the table. A very tall Gerudo woman had joined in on the table's conversation. Link could tell that she was a Gerudo by her tan skin and red hair. Link felt even more out of place.

"Do you have someplace where I can wash up?" he asked, he had felt gross for ten years, it was time for a bath.

"Oh? Who are you the mysterious man that broke into my fortress last night?" the Gerudo woman said stiftly. Link couldn't tell if she was angry or not by the tone of her voice.

"He did give us quite a scare." Raen said his silver eyes fixed down on the table.

"Nabooru, he meant no harm." Araxia said, then she whispered the next part, "He was held prisoner by the dark elves down on Lon Lon Ranch."

"I see...do you wish to fight the dark elves and restore Hyrule?" Nabooru said abrutly catching Link off guard.

"Umm...I guess." Link said, although he didn't know how he could, his fighting skills weren't great since he had learned them from Nyk.

"Good, then you can join the rebellion. Do you have any...better clothes?" she said looking at Link's maroon cloak and tattered pants with a look of displeasure.

"No, I don't." Link said quickly.

"I'll get some for you. After you get done washing up I should have them for you." she said as she quickly turned and rushed out of the door.

"Don't mind her, she's always crabby." Zelda said as a scowl played across her face.

"Right...where's the washroom?" Link said ignoring Zelda's comment, he was too excited to be clean to care about what the princess had to say right now.

"I'll show you!" Araxia said eagerly as she jumped up from her seat and hurried Link off to the washroom.

Zelda was now alone with Raen and Owyn. She didn't expect much conversation from them after Araxia left, they were hardly saying anything to begin with. Owyn hadn't looked at Zelda since yesterday, he looked angry with her although she had done nothing wrong that she could think of. "He is just rude..." Zelda thought to herself angrily. She didn't get why Owyn didn't like her or anyone to be more specific, except for his brother.

Raen on the other hand was wishing for someone to talk, he was sick of silence, back in the Deku Tree no one talked, on the ride to the fortress no one talked and now that he was in the fortress no one talked except for Araxia, but she always talked, it was hard to carry on a decent conversation with her since she was so scatterbrained, but at least she didn't wallow in silence like the rest of them. Raen wished he wasn't so shy. Him and his brother were complete opposites, Owyn used to be so outgoing before the accident happend. His brother was braver and stronger then Raen ever wished to be, Raen felt as if he was always living in the shadow of his older brother, even when they were younger, Owyn had outshined him in school and sports and was their parents were always so proud of him. At first Raen had liked the new Owyn the quiet, underachiever Owyn, but now he wished more than ever for his old brother. If Owyn had still been the same guy they wouldn't be in this stupid fortress or stuck in a rotting tree for so long, they would be out fighting with the rest of the Hylian Troops and Vathl would have been dead by now. Raen still sat across from his brother, he couldn't think of anything to say. As always. Raen had wanted to talk about the night of the accident with his brother for so long but Owyn had always shrugged him off and refuse to talk. Raen noticed that Zelda was staring at Owyn again, the first time was last night when they had the pointless meeting with Nabooru and she was doing it again. Owyn of course was too angry to notice that she was looking at him. "Luky..." Raen thought, "The Princess of Hyrule has a thing for my brother and he is too stupid to even look up."

"Isn't Link done yet?" Nabooru reappeared in the fortress with some clothing in her hands.

"Nope, not yet. He was dirty what do you expect, I mean can you imagine not having a bath for ten years? I mean if I didn't have one I would've probably died from being so disgusted with myself...I remember this one time when I was six I was playing outside and..." Araxia continued to ramble on.

"I'll just leave these outside the bathroom." Nabooru said placing the clothes by the door. Araxia stopped talking and scowled, she had noticed that no one was listening to her.

"I have good news!" Nabooru beamed up at the four young adults at the table. When they didn't respond she continued with less enthusiasm. "We've got more people coming to join the rebellion. A group has been found in the lost woods, they want to take destroy Vathl also, the problem is, is that they have refused to come here. Impa found them on her search for food, she said they weren't the friendliest bunch but we could definately use them. Now when Link gets done with washing up I want you to take him and go to the Lost Woods and try to find them." Nabooru said in practically one breath, she inhaled deeply and then looked eagerly around at the people sitting at the table.

"Am I permitted to go?" Zelda asked as she glared at Nabooru.

"Don't be silly, of course not. If something happens to you Impa will have my head." Nabooru laughed while she shrugged Zelda off.

"I want to help!" Zelda argued, it was something she had never done with Nabooru but she was getting sick of waiting in the stupid fortress, it was more like a prisoner instead of a hideout. "I would rather die then stay here any longer." Zelda said while she stood up. She was very angry, and sick of being treated like a little kid, she was as old as Araxia and she would probably be going. "I can fight, I've been practicing with all of the spare time I've had in this ridiculous place." Zelda said, her face was turning red.

"Zelda, I'm sorry, you can't go. It's too dangerous, you could get hurt." Nabooru said quietly.

"You're not my mother, you're only a few years older than I? Why should you be the one to decide what I can and can not do?" Zelda said persuing the arguement, she wasn't going to give up as Nabooru wanted her too.

"I'm the leader here, I say what goes." Nabooru said her voice was rising, Zelda could tell she was making her angry.

"I'm going and there is nothing you can do to stop me." Zelda said smirking.

"I'm afraid the guards will think differently." Nabooru said her voice returning to normal. "I'm sorry you had to see this, please go on with what you were doing." Nabooru said as she walked out of the fortress.

Zelda stormed off into her quarters leaving the rest of the group shocked. Even Owyn had looked up to watch the arguement. Link had returned now wearing a black tunic, it smelled a bit funky but it was much better than what he had been wearing before. "What happened I heard yelling." Link said, the others turned to look at them, Link saw Raen flinch when he looked at the direction where Link was standing.

"Look I know I look bad, get over it. Don't feel bad for me." Link said angrily at Raen. Raen averted his eyes back to the table as he blushed.

"You're coming with us to the Lost Woods to get more recruits." Owyn said while standing up. "Eat this. You still look too skinny." Owyn said while shoving a muffin in Link's hands.

"Oh, when are we going?" Link said taking a bite of his muffin.

"Right now. Take one of these." Owyn said handing Link a sword, it was better than the ones the dark elves carried. Link grabbed the sword from Owyn with his free hand and threw it over his shoulder for easy handeling.

"Do you know how to use this?" Owyn said still not looking at Link in the eyes.

"Sort of..." Link said, the only training he had was with the dark elves and Link didn't know how good he would be compared to the others.

"Well I guess we will have to find out then." Araxia said smiling broadly.

"Go get your shoes on and then we're going." Owyn said impatiently.

Link headed down the hall towards his bedroom door, on his way over he heard sniffiling and a tearing noise. Due to his curiousity Link peered through the door the noise was coming through. Zelda was in her room crying and tearing apart her dresses. "That's probably what the yelling was about." Link thought to himself, he knocked on the door causing Zelda to jump.

"What do you want." Zelda said, her voice was strong despite her crying.

"May I come in." Link asked with a worried look plastered on his face.

"Fine, but hurry and shut the door behind you." Zelda said wiping her face.

Link cracked open the door as little as possible for him to squeeze through and then he shut it abruptly behind him. Inside of Zelda's room there was cloth every where. When Link entered she continued to tear up on of her dresses and then placed the strips of cloth carefully together and then continued to rip them. "What are you doing?" Link asked, he was apparently very confused by Zelda's peculiar actions.

"Your face! It's so white...what did they do to you...oh sorry." she said after she realized the look of hurt that played across Link's face. "It's not you're fault it just surprised me that a person should get so pale." Zelda said with sympathy.

"Don't feel bad, and you'd be surprised, I'm not even that pale compared to the others." Link said chuckling a bit although he found nothing funny about what they were discussing. "Still, what are you doing?" Link asked reverting back to the original subject.

"Oh, Nabooru said I couldn't come so I'm making up a disguise, I've done this before it normally works. But from now on my name is Sheik, okay?" Zelda said as she continued the tearing motion. "Tell the others to wait for me, it'll only be about a half an hour." she said, her voice was becoming more cheerful.

"Um...alright." Link said, he figured that Nabooru was the Gerudo leader he had met earlier. He was still a bit confused with what Zelda was doing. Her make-up was still smeared from when she had been crying and her blonde hair was a tangled mess.

"Go tell them, please?" Zelda said again getting impatient that Link wasn't moving."

"Oh...right." Link said exiting her room, he walked back down to Owyn's room which had been appointed to as Link's now and Owyn had moved into an empty room, and Link grabbed his Kokiri boots, he had made a stop to the Kokiri Forrest before he had come to the fortress i hopes of finding his friend but when he was unable he scrounged around for some fitting boots since his old ones had grown to small and pinched his feet.

When Link told the others about Zelda's plan. Owyn seemed displeased, he rubbed his hands through his jet black hair and sighed while he plopped down into a overstuffed dark red armchair. Raen on the other hand looked happy.

"How long?" Owyn said he was sitting with his head in his hands.

"Only about 20 minutes now." Link said not sure if Owyn was going to hit him or not.

"20 minutes? That'll take forever." Owyn whined while glaring at Link.

"That's not even that long, be quiet." Raen said. Link could've sworn that he saw Raen smile a bit when he thought no one was looking.

"So...Zelda's going right?" Araxia said finally catching on to what was being sad."

"Yes, are you retarded?" Owyn said hatefully.

"No!" Araxia said taken abash. "I was just thinking that now we don't have enough horses." We only have the three we brought and then Nabooru was lending one to Link. We can't just go ask her, she didn't want Zelda to know. Who's the retard now?" Araxia said while she pushed her black hair out of her face glaring with her purple eyes at Owyn.

"Oh darn, we can't go now." Raen said, he wasn't a very good lier. Even while he said this he didn't bother to stop smiling.

"Yes we can, she can ride with me." Owyn offered. "The horse is big enough it'll fit both, and Raen grow a backbone for once, you're embarassing me." Owyn said insulting his brother.

"Shut up." Raen said, although Owyn had just insulted him Raen was happy, his brother was becoming more and more talkative by the hour. It may have been the fresh air or the fact that they were out of the stupid tree, but it didn't matter, the old Owyn was streaking through.

"How do I look?" Zelda, well now Sheik said. Sheik had appeared out of Zelda's bedroom, Zelda had covered up her entire body so just that a few strands of her blonde hair peaked out and covered up her now red eyes.

"Whoa, how did you change you're eye color?" Araxia said hurrying over to Zelda to inspect her clothing.

"Impa taught me how to do it. Apparently I am 1/8 Sheikah and I use Sheik as my alter ego, when I was younger this was how I would escape out of the castle. Are we ready to go?" Sheik said.

"Yes, lets go." Owyn said he had been waiting by the door ever since Sheik had first appeared.

The five of them exited out of the fortress, Sheik stayed towards the middle, she still didn't want the Nabooru or one of the guard's to notice her. When they had reached the stables four horses stood lazily, Nabooru had already went through the trouble of saddeling them up for the four.

"Um...where do I ride?" Sheik asked looking even more confused as the four had already mounted the horses leaving her on the ground.

"With me, hurry up. I don't want Nabooru to come." Owyn said while he picked up Sheik and placed her on the back of his dozy dark brown stallion. "Grab on or you'll fall off." Owyn said sounding a bit irritated.

"Oh..sorry." Sheik said as she placed her arms awkwardly around Owyn's waist. It was weird riding throughout Hyrule field, the horses were running quite fast and the thunddering of the hooves made it difficult to speak. One would have to yell if they wanted to be heard. Zelda had never been on a horse before, her father had forbidden her to ride before, he said it was too dangerous and that she could get trampeled to death. Her father worried too much, and so did Nabooru. Zelda missed her father and mother terribly she hadn't seen her father since the dark elves had taken over when she was six and her mother had died when she was four. Zelda had basically been raised by the women of the gerudo tribe and when Zelda was fifteen Nabooru had been appointed to the leader after the old leader had past away when Nabooru was only eighteen.

"How do we get to the Lost Woods?" Araxia shouted from somewhere left of Zelda.

"We can either get their from Goron City or from the Kokiri Forrest. Our best bet is to go to the Kokiri Forrest, the dark elves have taken over Kakariko Village and part of the mountain." Link said, surpsing everyone with his knowledge. Everyone expected him to know nothing from being imprissoned for so long.

Link suspected this so he answered, "When you're in a place full of dark elves you overhear things." Link said simply, while he kept his eyes focused on the plains ahead of him. "I went to the Kokiri Forrest before I came to the fortress last night. There's hardly any dark elves there."

"We know." Raen said harshly, he had been in a grumpy mood ever since they had started riding. "We were just there yesterday, we came to the fortress about four hours before you surprised us."

Araxia scowled at him, him and Owyn may be different but when they were angry they could get so idiotic and rude. It made her mad. "Just because you're scared doesn't mean you have to be a jerk." Araxia shouted at Raen. Raen was taken aback.

"I am not scared. I'm just a little mad that we have to go back to that stupid Deku Tree." Raen lied. He knew Araxia and Owyn would see right through him but Sheik and Link wouldn't know.

"What is there to be scared of? The elves?" Link said, his confidence was going up now that he knew that the group had only formed a few hours before he had arrived.

"I am not scared! I know for a fact that I won't get captured like some of you." Raen said angrily, he didn't like Link.

"I was seven. And you are a jerk when you get frightened." Link said, he wasn't necessarily angry with Raen since he was scared but that didn't mean Raen could blab off his mouth either. Link continued, "If they come for you, I'll let them get you." Link said looking over and Raen.

Raen's face had turned white, and his knuckles had too since he was clutching onto the horse's reins so tightly. His older brother Owyn laughed. Araxia looked over at Owyn surprised, she hadn't heard him laugh like that in years.

"Aren't you happy today?" Araxia said while looking over at Owyn and Sheik.

Owyn ignored Araxia and instead pointed up toward an opening in the forrest. "We're here."

**the end...that one was a bit longer then the others but no matter...chapter 5 is in progress so it won't be long until my next update**


End file.
